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Monday, March 08, 2010

According to Venture Beat, “books have passed games as the largest category of apps for the iPhone in the iTunes store.”

While I think that’s great news for writers, I think the statistic probably needs to be clarified. While app to app, books may represent more apps than games, my guess is that the downloads per game are more than the downloads per book. I could be wrong since the article wasn’t clear. But I think of all the kids and 20-somethings with iPhones who have grown up with games and I figure the number of games downloaded would beat the number of books downloaded. Even so, it’s still good news for authors.

The article says:

Books now stand at a grand total of 26,569 compared with 25,079 games, according to Mobclix which listed the most popular apps and downloads on App store….

Already in October, according to a report by Flurry, one in five new apps was a book for the iPhone.

The article does conclude by saying that it would seem publishers are getting more comfortable with digital books.

20 comments:

Most kids I know consume more games than books. Most adults I now consume more books than games (I think electronic games are damn boring). There are many ways to read that statistics, I think. The way I read it is as follows: iPhone is still an expensive phone (at least in Winterland), hence not many kids who have them. Adults with income buy there stuff (books, music, games). The kids download (steal) from Pirate Bay or similar sites.

I have heaps of Kindle books on my iPhone and I wonder if they count each book as an app or the Kindle books app (for storing and downloading them) as a single one. My kids love Kindle books way more than traditional paper books and I think books would outweigh apps for us once we get the bigger iPad (the iPhone is okay for reading but a bit small).I hope those statistics are correct because I get really excited when I think of kids getting passionate about reading (the English teacher in me).Great blog post, really got me thinking.

I think teens can be encouraged to read with video content and interactive material. A published series; 20k words with credits and new material every edition. Imagine a series where you can choose the characters. Good writers can write the same story with different characters and endings. Imagine facebook fan groups in a read off, the ability to trade up - buy and read 6 follow on short stories, open the alternative ending and win the same series with different characters set in an alternate world.

Hi all. Still in Vegas & quite frustrated. I have no phone service & limited computer service. Arrggh, who knew I was so addicted! If I had an e-Reader, I think I'd use it. On the way to Vegas, I read half of a book. That one book took up more room (it was a hardback) than an e-Reader would have and that reader could have held a hundred books! I'm not a big game player, though.

Every new article like this just illustrates the reality that e-books are gaining in popularity. This is good for writers, and I can see the benefit of some of the e-book publishers aggressively going after these markets. I hope mine does, and I am definitely going to suggest it without being too pushy about it. LOL

The e-revolution in publishing is upon us. I need to learn more about e-readers and e-books in the next few months so I'll be armed with current knowledge when my work is available for electronic publication.

I want an eReader, but don't know when I'll get one. They still seem expensive to me. I brought a hardback on this trip and I'm almost finished with it. I thought it would last until I got home, but it looks like I'll have nothing to read on the flight home now. An e-Reader would have been lighter to carry and would carry more than one book, maybe more than a hundred.

I think the ease the younger generation has with all things digital really hit me when my 20 something niece told me she bought all my books on her i-phone and read them at work. She wasn't bothered by the small page and didn't get a headache from staring at the screen. The ebook isn't the future to her and her friends. It's now.

This is good news. Oddly enough, though, I'm still worried that the next generation of e-books will become more like games, especially after seeing what folks are doing with the Apple I-pad. It makes me wonder kids will really be reading e-books, or just playing with them.

Angel Sometimes by Helen Ginger

Angel Sometimes

Helen Ginger

Helen is the author of five books: three non-fiction, a short story anthology and a contemporary fiction, Angel Sometimes. She maintains an informational and interactive blog for writers and a weekly e-newsletter that has been going out to subscribers around the globe for thirteen years. She is an owner-partner and Women’s Marketing Director for Legends In Our Own Minds®, which specializes in creative networking opportunities for companies and groups.